Princess Sara bint Abdulmohsen Al-Anqari, chairperson of the Higher Women's Committee for Social and Humanitarian Services, announced yesterday that the committee will donate on the first day of Ramadan306 housing units to those in need, 256 in the village of Tufail and 50 in Rabigh. The houses will be fully furnished when they are handed over, free of charge, to the beneficiaries. Princess Sara commended Governor of Makkah Province Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdulaziz and local business men and women for their generous support to the committee's charitable projects, saying SR 127 million [U.S. $ 33.9 million] has been spent in less than four years on social and medical as well as housing projects.

The housing projects include provision of a mosque, schools for boys and for girls, a health center, a vocational training center and a school for Qur'an recitation and memorization, as well as water, electricity and roads. A presentation of these charitable housing projects will be made at the fifth annual exhibition for family requirements organized by the committee at the Jeddah International Exhibition Center from October 20 until the end of Ramadan. A charity bazaar will also be held at this exhibition.

Other achievements by the Committee are the 85-bed King Abdulaziz Kidney Center in Taif, which opened last year, as well as financial assistance to public hospitals for the purchase of up-to-date medical equipment; the acquisition of two apartment blocks to provide accommodation for a number of poor families in the city of Makkah; donations to five charitable women's societies including the Disabled Children's Association; and the extension of financial aid to deserving families. Plans are under way for a 100-bed rehabilitation center in Jeddah to care for the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases, and a first-aid center along the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway, as well as 44 more housing units in Tufail and 50 more in Rabigh.